purpdaddy
Well-Known Member
This is a small guide for the newb BP growers who just want to get started.Here is some very useful info I took the time out to put together.This is all Rosemans ideas,work and most of all time and effort so I take no part in the production all thanks go to Roseman!Go here https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/7897-stealth-hydro-bubbleponics-systems-226.html for his newsletter about the BP system fro Stealth Hydro that also has very useful info.Please read this first before you start asking questions that have already been asked!I could have made this a hell of a lot longer but this is to get you up and growing!Please go back and back to this page for future reference.Go to www.stealthhydroponics.com for the official site to purchase the system!There is so much more you need to know about growing hydro so i suggest you Google or go on youtube and watch videos of grows PuRp
Page 1 Basic before you start your grow
Roseman's Tip of the Month
Can't make up your mind?
Have you been putting off making a decision to purchase your Stealth Hydroponics System?
I, Roseman, and my best friend partner have been outdoor gardeners off and on for decades. We have another friend with an indoor garden and I've always been super jealous, but too cautious to try it. We read Ed Rosenthal's "Growing Guide" so long ago, I can't remember when I first got it. Growing outdoors was for personal use, but it was limited to the seasons, weather, climate, and many other undesirable conditions.
This past year, I decided I wanted to move into the new age and grow indoors and grow the hydroponics "no soil" way. I started out by googling "growing indoors" and "growing hydroponics" and discovered a wide world of indoor growers, differing advise and a range hydroponics systems. After many months of Internet research and study I found the term "Stealth" and I told my partner and best friend that we should order one of the Stealth Hydroponics Systems for each of us. He told me to go ahead and order one, and that he would be smarter and thriftier then me by studying my system and then build one just like it.
On January 10th, my Dual Spectrum II Stealth Hydroponics System arrived. My best friend came right over and said "piece of cake, I can easily build one of those in a day!" He is a pretty smart dude, too.
I had already pre-soaked my seeds earlier and four days later introduced my six 2" seedlings to the rockwool cubes. My system was up and running! But my so called best friend and growing partner had become a big pest, bugging me for the first three days, coming over every day, wanting to look it over again and again to figure out how to build his own system.
Fourteen days later he had the tank, two pumps, some hoses or tubing, an air stone and he thought that he was on his way to building a hydroponics system. All he thought remained was figuring out how to cut those round holes. Or so he thought. In the same 14 days I had six of the most beautiful 6" tall, healthy bushiest plants that anyone has ever seen!
Now, 23 days later, I am almost half way through "growth" stage and my friend is still trying to figure out how to create the irrigation system and get it all assembled. He is driving me crazy constantly wanting to look inside my system. Finally he asked me if I think he can order "just the parts" from Stealth Hydro. Now he has realized he will also need the pre-measured and truly convenient Nutrient Grow Packets, the connectors, grow cups, rockwool, hydroton rocks and some not so readily available supplies that Walmart just does not carry. Not to mention the free grow guide CD.
I am telling you this story to make you pause and think. Are you really going to hunt down all those parts, guess as to how much water and proper nutrients are needed, how to assemble it all together and get it working, just to save around $60?
Really? And who are you going to ask for advise? Who can you go to with really dumb questions and get a rapid, expert, experienced reply - fast? What is that service worth? I am so glad that I found Stealth Hydro and that they are there to advise me. You will too! So what are you waiting for?
Until next month, Grow with Mother Nature and Grow with God, and GROW WITH STEALTH HYDRO! You'll be glad that you did! I sure am!
Peace.
Roseman
-here are some step by step start up instructions:
To start with, what kind of seeds are you useing? Try to either purchase some hybrid indica seed off of the internet, or try to find some from another grower. If you can not do that, maybe you can find a bag of sensimillia that had only a few seeds. With this system, To get a fast start, you can put the seed in wet paper towels while you are setting up the system. You'll want to put the wet paper towel on a plate, fold it over several times, covering the seed, make sure it is very wet,and then place a bowl upside down over the seed to make sure they are kept in the dark and stay wet. The only problem doing it that way is the sprouts are very delicate and you will need some tweezers to put them in the rockwool cubes.
YES, you can simply directly put the seed in the cubes to start with and that is faster and easier.
Let's start at the beginning. Try to use a secluded closet, with the wooden dowel or long rod overhead that you hang clothes on. You will need to get a thick rope or some thin chain, to hang your lights on. If you have the two lights, get two lenghts of chain, (or rope) and make a three foot long loop. Rinse out the tank with clean water. Try to find a small box, table or something like a large ice chest to put your tank on INSTEAD OF RIGHT ON THE FLOOR.. Be soaking your air stone in clean water, soak it over an hour or two.
Those DUAL Spectrum II lights are the very best. HID lighting is also the next best to dual spectrum, but they put out a lotta heat! Take your rocks and put them in a large strainer or colander, and rinse them, and rinse them again, to get the dust off. Ignore the instructions that came with them about using the pumped water to rinse them, that is too much trouble. Just rinse them first in a bowl.
Get your tank and lights in place, and then take one of the cups, and fill it 2 inches deep with the hydroton rocks. Then put your Rockwool cube in it, (take the plastic off the cube), and do not squeeze the cubes. Put one seed in the center of the cube, and put the cube in the cup, and put the rocks all around the cube. Do the 6 cups and put them in the lid, then put about a half inch of rocks on top of each cup, leaving the cube top uncovered. The top of the cube should be a little less than even with the top of the cup, or sitting an HALF inch lower than the top. Fill the tank with 6 gallons of the best water you can find, anything but city water. Use warm, room temp water. NOT HOT!(I use well water cause it is free) Now set the lid on the tank, and raise one side to see in , and make sure everything is connected good. Learn to use your hands and not your eyes to check the connections. The "hub" has to be connected to the underwater subversive pump. The end of each tube is inserted into the top holes of the cup. You should run one inch of tube into the cup, right up to the cube, touching it. You can start at the very beginning with the 6 cups in the lid, EVERYTHING CONNECTED, then load the cups.
I bought some large fishing weights for 82 cents and used fishing line to tie them to the air stone so it would stay in one place on the bottom and not float up. You must be careful about what you use to anchor the air stone down to the bottom.
Now get a one gallon jug, and mix half the GROW nutes in it, and half the micro nutes, in warm water and stir it and stir it. Drain it through a tea strainer to catch any undeserved little rocks or clumps. Now pour some of it into each cup or cube, just enough to wet the cubes. If you over soak them, they can possible collapse and you don't want that now. If they collapse later, that is OK. Now find 6 large Styrofoam cups, or 6 small Styrofoam saucers are better. Paper plates or disposable plastic plates will do. I use the saucers. I cut the bottoms out of the saucers, making a 4 inch disc or leaving them 4 inches in diameter. I cut a one inch hole in the center of each. I put one on each cup. They hold the moisture in the rocks and they block the light from the seed. This is not permanent, it is just for now. DO NOT TURN THE LIGHTS ON YET. Turn it all on, the pumps, leaving it in the dark, with the pump pumping the water to each cube, and the air stone bubbling and wait 4 to 6 days and you should see sprouts coming up. DO NOTHING DURING THOSE DAYS YOU ARE WAITING TO SEE THE SPROUTS. Have two or 3 extra seeds still in the wet paper towels, in case one of the seeds in the cups do not sprout. Then you can put that sprout in the cube. As soon as you see any sprout coming up, turn the lights on. With the Dual Spectrum lights, you can and should place them 2 or 3 inches above the plants. They do not put out any heat and the closer they are to the plant, the better. IF you place the lights 2 inches over the plants, you will have to raise them twice a day, due to the rapid growth.
Q:also should i be cutting the lower stems off? i do have one 42watt clf on the side of the widow, should i be concentrating on getting a big cola? not too sure what to do
A:Man, that is the biggest arguement on RIU. some call it lollipopping. some call it FIM (F**K, I missed) or Fimming. some call it topping and they all argue about it. Everytime someone starts a thread here on taht subject, there is a fight and argument and name calling and it gets bad.
Bro, I will never lie or make up shit or tell you advise on soemthing I do not have a lot of experience on. I promise.
I see advise here from people who never really did a grow.
My advise is DO NOT DO IT! DO NOT TRIM THOSE BIG FAN LEAVES, THEY ARE REQUIRED FOR THE PHOTOSYNTHISIS. If you do, you will regret it.
Some argue it lets more food go to the buds. BULLSHIT! They use the pigs at the trough argument, that if you remove a few feeding pigs,the remaining pigs get more food. BULLSHIT. The truth is the plant will go into shock and stop eating and growing for a few days from the SHOCK. The fan leaves have stored nutes in them vital for your plants growth.
When it does recover, it spends all its energy replacing the missing fan leaves. (also called shade leaves)
Some argue that if you remove the big fan leaves, it allows more light in. BULLSHIT. When it recovers from the shock, it spends all its energy filling in the space and in a week, it is replaced anyway.
Don't do it!
Do Not remove the big fan or shade leaves, you'll get many small buds from there and they are tasty buds too, just not as big.
Or try it with one plant and see if what I told you is so. you'll regret it, but you might need to experience it and live and learn.
One of the best things my dad taught me, is "son, learn from other people's mistakes, and not your own". I am 58 years old and I learned my lesson. Listen to someone older, wiser and with experience for advise.
At 5 or 6 weeks of FLOWERING, they will yellow and fall off anyway.
Excuse the typos.
Q:so i shouldnt cut the tops of the plants doing sog? and cut them if i let them grow big?
A:don;'t cut the lower leaves or branches under any circumstances, unless youa re doing a SOG. with a SOG, you're going for just the tops..and you get less.
Q:when I refresh the water, as in just add to what I have not when I change the res. Should I be adding nute solution, or just plain water. SH says just plain water, but my PPM meter reads 180 after adding around 2 gallons of plain water. Shouldn't I be keeping my PPM's up during the flowerring stage?
A
uring the first 3 weeks of Vegging, I had no noticable lose of water.
At 4 weeks, I lost one or two quarts a day, and after 7 weeks, I lost a gallon a day. I calculated everything in sixths. So when I had to replace a gallon, I replaced it with a 1/6 mix of nutes in one Gallon of water and I am very satisfied it was right and good and what was best.
I reasoned if I got 6 gallons of water with six marbles in it, and one gal of water goes away, it must of taken one marble away too, so I am going to add back one gallon of water, i need to also add another marble. Made sense to me. ALSO, in my research, I learned that there is WASTE , (salts) in the water, and adding additional nutes does add more salts back in, so it is very necesary to also drain and replinish often, and although everyone says every ten days, I did it every 7 days on average.
Young, established seedlings or rooted cuttings are started at 500-600ppm. The TDS is increased to 800-900ppm during peak vegetative growth. During the transition from early to heavy flowering, TDS is further raised to 1000-1100ppm. It is then reduced to 400-500ppm during the final 2 weeks of flushing. The last 48 hours, use plain water only.
IF you use the premeasured nutes from SH, there is no need to worry about it. And in the example you used, AFTER 2 gallons are gone, then 1/3 of your nutes are gone too, lowering the ppm reading.
Q: have 5 out of 6 female lowryder 2's growing like mad in my Stealth Hydro and am worried they aregonna choke eachother out...wasn't expecting 5 out of 6 females, but a nice suprise...
A: Lots of ways to handle it. Really depends on the LIGHTS you have.
1st, this thread is to help any STEALH HYDRO BUBBLPONICS GROWER, so youa e NOT hi-jacking it. You are very welcomed adn encouraged to ask any question about the sytem here.
No one ever notices tht it is called a STARTER SYSTEM. Meaning you use it to start plants in. The MOST amazing thing about the system is how rapidly they do START, because of the 27/7 feed of Oxyegen enriched, nutrient enrich water tht flows to each cup, all day and night. It just seems to pull the roots out and that makes the plant grow faster and taller.
I did have 4 females in one tank, one time, and that was when I bought a 2nd tank. I moved two plants to the 2nd tank, and added some extra lights. When it happened again, 4 females in one tank, I went and bought a 5 gallon bucket at Walmart, with a lid, a cheap air pump, and 2 - 12 inch air stones and I moved one plant to the bucket. It was matuire enought NOT to need the feeder tubes and underwater pump. You might consider purchasing a 5 gallon bucket and moving a plant to it.
You could also read and study about bending them over, to grow horizontally, away from each other, IF YOU HAVE THE ROOM or SPACE. Just lift and tilt the cups outward and bend them over side-ways, you will have to tie them with something and try to get some lights on them from the sides, even if you hav eto resort to some cheap 42 wat bulbs. .
You've been blessed to get 5 females, that seldom happens, 5 out of 6! If it was me, I[d buy another tank or bucket and more lights and have a BIG harvest.
Q; im a few days away from starting a new crop, i only have my apt for 6 months so my roommate and i wanted to build a system that will produce the most crop, fast as possible. We decided to go with the bubbleponics system. everything is was going fine untill my roommate mentioned that "its awseome because we dont have to change the water." I was under the impression that you had to change the water and nutes every week or so. he stands by his word and says we dont have to change it. who is right? is it possible to not change the water and still come out with a good crop?
A:You start by putting perfect pH water, or as perfect as you can get it, (anywhere between 5.7 and 6.8 will do fine, 5.8 to 6.0 is best) with the perfect nutes (nutrients) that are pH balanced too. After a week or two, the roots hit the deep water and starting drinking the water. The plants eat or take from the water, taking nitogen, potassium, and other minerals for food, but they do not take the same amounts of each, leaving the water NOT PERFECT, with different amounts of remaining minerals. That means the water needs replacing.
ALSO, after two weeks, it is nearly impossible to avoid a piece of dead leaf getting in the tank, or a piece of dead root in the tank. That messes up the water, and the pH. So you ahve to replace the water with PERFECT water again.
ALSO, after about 4 weeks, they will be drinking nearly a gallon a day. And you have to REPLINISH the water with new water and new nutes, that is pH balanced.
ALSO, when you do drain the water, the roots are exposed to a blast of Oxygen, and as long as they are not dry for over 15 minutes, they love that blast of freash air. The more often you drain and replinish,the faster they grow. Knowing that, I drained every Saturday, EVERY SATURDAY, after the first two weeks. Ocassionally, on Wednesday, I drained it and put the water in a 5 gallon bucket, pH tested it, Adjsuted it,a dn put the same water right back in, just to give them a bath of air for a few mintues.
Q: plants are getting really bushy,but not much taller..is this nute lock??
A: :the best way to determine Nute Lock or Nutrional Lockout, is they will suddenly NOT drink the same amount of water they drank yesterday
Nutritional Lockout
Allow us to GIVE you a simplified definition of NUTRIONAL LOCKOUT.
Can you imagine sitting a plate before a child at dinner time, with his most favorite food, hot dogs, ketchup and french fries? But also on the plate is a major portion of steamed broccoli, which he is just not fond of and insists on nibbling on. Now imagine telling that child, "you can not eat the hot dog and fries if you do not eat all the broccoli too". NUTRITONAL LOCKOUT is when the child responds with "well then, I just won't eat!"
Stealth-Hydro's nutrients are both nutritionally and PH balanced. But after being in your tank for 5 or 6 days, and being eaten from for 5 or 6 days, they become imbalanced. Perhaps you are growing plants that ate all the nitrogen first and just snacked around the iron, magnesium and calcium, or visa versa. The results are discoloration in the leaves, yellowing or rust spots, or curling up of leaf tips. It also becomes apparent when your plants were consuming a gallon or half gallon of water every day, and then suddenly when you check the levels the next day, they did not drink any water at all. This is NUTRITIONAL LOCKOUT.
Q:I will be growing with feminized seed, so all 6 will be females (unless im unlucky) so with all six plants being females how tall should I veg. I was originally planning on growing 3 plants, but I though with the slim growth characteristics of white-berry I might be able to squeeze 6 with short veg. time.
A: in outdoors, in nature, plants VEG from around May, to late June or mid July. An average of ten weeks to mature to then start making flowers.
IN Hydro, Indoors, with 24/7 light, you cut that time in half, to 5 weeks.
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Q: once a grower has planted his seeds that have just cracked and show thier tap root is it safe to cover them slightly and turn on the light 24/7
A: Seeds stay in DARK until they sprout and show a root and sprout. Then , like the frst day they are coming out of the ground in nature outdoors, they get full light. ont he first day, I have 3 or 4 CFLS about 6 inches high, and I lower them one inch a day, until 4 or 5 days later, they are one to two inches away.
Q: anyone have any experience with molasses?
A: Molassas is used in SOIL growing, but not in Hydro. I've seen many grower here mess up their entire system, putting it in their tanks
Q:im seeing little fungis gnats on my roots...is there any home remedy you can tell me..i looked everywhere on this but everyone seems to only have this prob. when they deal with soil or if its a dwc setup then theres no responses tha can really help me..please if u have anything on this it would be appreciated..cause i hear those lil bastards can be dangerous..i was thinking of getting this but wasnt sure how to use it in bubbler...
A:I would not use that if you are not certain what the consequesnces will be.
I've never even seen or heard of fungis gants on the roots. do you mean they have gnats flying around in the resouvoir tank? That is strange to me!
I've seen dozens of pics here where someone had wierd water; green, brown, white, slimey, chalky, powdery, and when we dug deep for an explanation, they had all done something wierd and not done before, that caused it. They added something wierd, they let light in the tank, they had a glass aquarium, they let the water sit for a day before using it, something wierd. If you got gnats in the water, how did that happen?
My tank stays sealed except for feeding and draining time.
Keeping Size in Perspective
This system was not designed to row six 6-foot tall Christmas Trees. (Although we have grown 3 plants, 3, 4 and 5 feet tall in one tank.) We have heard a few growers tell us "I just realized that the 6 plants are going to get very crowded after they get 3 or 4 feet tall". This system was not designed for 6 giant plants. There is a reason that the tank is 21 and a half inches long. When this system was originally designed, many factors went into deciding what size tank and pumps to use. The main factors were economy, simplicity, stealthness, and making sure the tank would fit into the end of a small closet, out of the way and out of sight. We've heard of a few growers that try to change to a much larger tank, and realize how much more work and trouble is involved in using a larger tank and moving larger quantities of water. Draining and replenishing the water can be a major task in a much larger tank. Not only are more larger and expensive air and water pumps needed for a larger tank, but larger pumps make more noise. Draining and cleaning a larger tank is a ton of work and trouble too. If you want to go with a bigger system, then connect two tanks together. And if you want to grow large plants, then start them in the Bubbleponics System, then transfer them into the Bucketeer Large Bucket DWC system. Or do like most growers do and just grow 2 or 3 large plants in one tank by selecting and keeping the more desirable three plants and disposing of the other three.
Growing the Stealth Hydro Way
The StealthHydro Bubbleponics System was designed to be "stealth" and to be very efficient, quiet, small, simple, easy to use, and inexpensive. The designer of this system had the beginner or novice in mind, because it is so simple and easy to use. But as we have continued to grow with the system and grow in experience, we've come to know you can not improve on it. The system is designed to grow six small plants very fast and easy, under the umbrella of two Dual Spectrum lights, in a two square foot space.
Dirty Water?
We hear from a few growers having trouble with the water becoming cloudy or brown. Upon asking questions, we learn they did not rinse the hydroton rocks as completely as they should have. You should put the hydroton rocks in a large mixing bowl full of water, and pour them through a colander five or six times until the water pours out crystal clear and clean of hydroton dust. You should also pour water over and through the rocks several times in the colander. IF you see WHITE looking grains in the water, it is probably just water minerals and will not do any harm.
Algae Prevention
We also hear from a few growers allowing algae to grow in their tank and becoming a problem. This can happen from several mistakes but can easily be remedied. (see our 8 Step Remedy) You can not allow a dead root or fallen leaf to stay in the tank and decay. You can not allow the lights to shine into the water through the rocks. If the grow cup is full of rocks, the lights can not penetrate through the cups. And most important, you have to start with clean, pure water. You can not use rain water, or water from a stream, river or lake. You should exchange the water after the first ten days, and then every 10 to 14 days as you grow. As the plants get over 12 inches tall, exchanging the water every 7 days is more efficient. Your water should smell like clean green alfalfa sprouts. With added GROW nutrients, it has a slightly green tint. If you detect an unpleasant odor, you have waited too long to drain and exchange the water. When you do replenish the water and nutrients, you should look for and remove any dead roots that were accidentally torn from the plant. You can use chlorinated city tap water. Some growers even recommend it for it's purity. The chlorine dissipates fast and is never a problem. You can use RH filtered water, or store bought distilled or spring water. If you use well water or detect algae growing in your tank, you can add 1/6 teaspoon of Hydrogen Peroxide per gallon of water to your tank as a cure or preventative. Never use more than a level teaspoon per tank of 6 gallons of water.
We have seen books that advised allowing chlorinated water to first sit for 24 hours. Not only is this not necessary, this is bad advise, and encourages algae to start growing in your water. We have done tests and the chlorine dissipate within minutes from the tap. Do not use water that sat out and uncovered or was stored.
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pH Problems
If you have a PH problem, you simply did something wrong. You should make sure that the PH of the water going into the tank is very close to 6.0. Anything between 5.8 and 6.8 is OK, but 5.8 to 6.0 works best, IF you use the SH pH balanced nutes. When you first set up your tank, you should do a PH test on your water before adding the water to the tank, using the enclosed PH test strips. Then adjust the water with PH UP or PH DOWN before it goes into the tank. That way, the PH perfect nutrients will work best. It can be dangerous to adjust the PH in the tank, especially if you overly adjust it. It is also dangerous to adjust it frequently. A very slight adjustment is OK, but if you change it drastically in the tank by using a large amount of PH UP or PH DOWN, you are taking a big risk of seriously harming your plants. If you do a test on your tank's water and it is extremely out of range from 5.8 to 6.8, then it is best to drain it and replenish it with PH corrected water and nutrients. (see the 8 Step Remedy) Let us repeat, you should add the nutrients to PH perfect water to start with. If you insist on adjusting it in the tank slightly, then use no more than 1/2 level teaspoon of PH UP or PH DOWN to the tank, and no more frequently than 4 hours apart. Plants do not adjust well to rapid changes in PH levels. The results can be Nutritional Lockout. Remember, if you make a mistake then you can easily and rapidly correct it, by using the 8 Step Remedy.
Mixing the Nutrients
We have had growers tell us "when I throw in a packet of nutrients into my tank, they just settle to the bottom and don't dissolve". That is not the proper way to introduce the nutrients and feed your plants. These nutrients are natural elements and not made to perfectly dissolve in water. For example, seashells are not ever going to completely dissolve in water, no matter how much they are pulverized, but are an excellent source of calcium. You should add the packets to a quart jar half full of warm water and stir them rapidly, mixing them as well as possible in the water. Then pour them through a tea strainer or some kind of mesh screen or filter, to filter out the small particles that did not dissolve. Then add the nutrient water mix to the tank.
Always remember when you first start and set up your system, you should start with 1/4 of a packet of GROW nutes, if you are starting with seeds, sprouts or baby seedlings. If you started with clones or baby plants, then start with half a packet of Grow nutes. Your plants should be about 3 inches tall, before you use the nutrients full strength. Then stand back and watch for a growth explosion!
Nutrient and Water Flow
We hear concerns from new growers that the water is not flowing rapidly or strongly from the ends of the tubes into the rockwool cubes. A strong flow is not necessary at all. A slight trickle (bubbling) is all that is needed to keep the rockwool cube moist and the baby roots fed until they reach into the deep water. You do need to check for crimps and folds in the water tubes, especially when you first set up your system.
Keeping It Simple
The biggest mistake that we have seen anyone make starts with "I wonder what will happen if I add miracle nutrients, or cat urine, or molasses" or a dozen other crazy things that we have heard growers try. If you do not know what will happen, don't try it unless you are prepared to start all over because you killed your plants. Experimentation is great, but caution and moderation are the keys to success.
Oxygen Is the Most Important Aspect of Bubbleponics
The best tip we can offer from experience is the importance of air or oxygen in the water. It is not required or necessary for good health of plants, but the addition of a 2nd air stone can make a difference in the speed of growth. You can use a plastic T-coupler so you can add a second stone to the one air pump. You can force growth spurts by draining the tank, waiting five or ten minutes to allow the roots to "air out" and then replenishing the water, even if you add back the same water and nutrient mix that you just drained out. Try it!
There are several ways to drain your tank by the way. One is by adding the drain plug or faucet. Or you can obtain a plastic hose like you can get at the aquarium store to drain your aquarium, and siphon the water out. Another way is to attach the hose to the submersible pump, using your fist as a coupling, and simply allow the pump to pump it out into a bucket.
Diagnosis and Recuperation Guide
We'll discuss some signs of illness first, then offer remedies for Recuperation and Recovery.
Both new leaves and mature leaves are the best indicators to determine how healthy your plants are. Any problem or illness will first manifest itself in the appearance of your leaves. These problems almost always originate from the plant's environment, PH imbalance or over-feeding and under feeding. These problems always result in what is called "nutritional lock-out".
Nutritional Lockout
Allow us to GIVE you a simplified definition of NUTRIONAL LOCKOUT.
Can you imagine sitting a plate before a child at dinner time, with his most favorite food, hot dogs, ketchup and french fries? But also on the plate is a major portion of steamed broccoli, which he is just not fond of and insists on nibbling on. Now imagine telling that child, "you can not eat the hot dog and fries if you do not eat all the broccoli too". NUTRITONAL LOCKOUT is when the child responds with "well then, I just won't eat!"
Stealth-Hydro's nutrients are both nutritionally and PH balanced. But after being in your tank for 5 or 6 days, and being eaten from for 5 or 6 days, they become imbalanced. Perhaps you are growing plants that ate all the nitrogen first and just snacked around the iron, magnesium and calcium, or visa versa. The results are discoloration in the leaves, yellowing or rust spots, or curling up of leaf tips. It also becomes apparent when your plants were consuming a gallon or half gallon of water every day, and then suddenly when you check the levels the next day, they did not drink any water at all. This is NUTRITIONAL LOCKOUT.
Instead of giving lengthy descriptions of indications of overfeeding, underfeeding, ph imbalance, environmental problems and Nutritional Lockout here, it is easier to just give the remedy. Here we will refer to this remedy as THE RECUPERATION AND RECOVERY REMEDY.
THE 8 STEP RECUPERATION AND RECOVERY REMEDY
1. Check the roots. If they are discolored, reddish or brown, or present an unpleasant odor, you have a problem. If they are weak, soft or mushy, you have a problem. Also while checking the roots, observe the temperature of the water. If it is warmer than "luke warm" you have a problem. This problem is probably what is referred to as "root rot" or a disease known as PYTHIUM. Remove the dead brown roots by trimming them away with sharp scissors. Do not leave them in the tank.
2.Check the humidity and temperature of the grow area below the lights in the "growing zone" when the lights are on. A temperature of above 82 degrees or below 67 degrees will slow growth, but it is not a serious problem that will kill your plants. Temperatures below 62 degrees or above 90 degrees will stop growth. An extremely high temperature in the upper 90s or below 58 degrees can slowly result in death of your plants. The most efficient temps for growth are between 72 to 80 degrees. Any Humidity between 40 and 60 percent is acceptable and desirable.
3.Check the "lights off, nighttime" temperature. Most desirable is ten to 15 degrees cooler than the daytime "lights on" temperature, averaging 66 to 70 degrees.
4.Check the distance between the tips of the plant and the tip of the light bulb. If you observe yellowing or leaf curling tips, then move the lights one inch further away. A good rule of thumb if you use HID lights, is hold the soft palm of your hand at the leaf tip and see if the bulb is too warm to your hand. If you use Stealth Hydro's compact fluorescent bulbs, we recommend a distance of three or four inches for the 65 and 85 watt bulbs and 4 inches to five inches for the 105 watt bulbs. More mature plants can handle the bulbs slightly closer.
5.Check the position of your fans. Air movement is very necessary for the health of your plants, but too strong of a fan can cause wind burn. Direct your fan toward the tops of the plants and toward the lights. Never position the fan blowing strongly downward on the leaves.
6.Add 1/4 teaspoon of hydrogen peroxide to a quart of water and add it to the tank of six gallons already in the tank. Wait ten minutes and then turn the water and nutrition solution pump off to prepare to drain the tank. Poor at least a cup of clean water through each grow cup, onto each rockwool cube and through the hydroton rocks.
7.Drain or pump the tank empty as possible without damaging the pump by running it dry. Add two gallons of additional clean water with 1/4 teaspoon of hydrogen peroxide again and then drain it away too. Again, empty the tank as empty as possible without burning up your pump.
8. Add fresh PH balanced water and nutritional packets as prescribed. PH test it again.
The above 8 steps should repair and remedy any health problems that your plants experienced within the next two days. Now is the time to try and determine what caused the problem to start with, by investigating and researching typical hydroponics problems and illnesses. Here are a few DIAGNOSIS TIPS.
Typical Hydroponics Problems and Illnesses
Underfeeding and Weak Nutrition
The entire plant, both upper and lower leaves, will show lime or light green in color.
The plant will not eat, drink or show growth.
It is time to follow the 8 Step Remedy.
Overfeeding, Use of Too Strong Nutrients
The leaves will curl downward. They grow very dark dull flat green and then the tips show signs of burn.
It is time to follow the 8 Step Remedy.
Nutritional Lockout
You know that you have made recent PH adjustments. You might know you may have used too much of the PH Adjustment Solution. You may have failed to test the PH often enough. You notice the plants did not eat or drink because they did not consume the same amount of water they used yesterday. You see rust spots. The large lower leaves are prematurely dying and you are not in the BLOOMING or FLOWERING stage.
It is time to follow the 8 Step Remedy.
Wind Burn
You had the fan blowing downward toward the upper side of the leaves, instead of blowing up through the node spaces or toward the lights. You observe the leaves becoming dry or even crispy, perhaps shriveling, and the tips curling upward. The leaves do not appear glossy, moist and vibrant.
It is time to follow the 8 Step Remedy.
Water, Nutrition Solution or Roots Are Discolored Brown Or Have an Unpleasant Odor
You notice your water is becoming brownish in color, or smells distasteful. Your solution does not smell pleasant and appetizing like fresh lettuce. Your roots are not the same shade of white that they once were a week ago.
It is time to follow the 8 Step Remedy.
Q:Can someone explain the difference between the Bubbleponic kit and the Deep Water Culture kit? Which is better? And why. Sorry about stupid questions, but I've read most of this entire website and never really got an answer to this one
A:What is a bubbler/DWC?
DWC (Deep Water Culture) units are commonly referred to as "bubblers" and are used for a method of growing plants hydroponically in a bucket of nutrients with the plant suspended over the nutrients and the roots growing down into the nutrients which are super oxygen saturated by pumping large volumes into the nutrient solution with the aid of an aquaurium stlye pump with an airstone attached to the airline.
Plants grown in this method grow at superfast rates due to the fact that they are being fed large amounts of oxygen. This is the same reason that the roots can sit in the nutrient solution without drowning. This method of growing is perfect for a hobby grower or one who wishes to grow for personal use. Large scale commercial growers do not generally find this method appropriate for the reason that each plant is housed in its own reservoir, and would simply be entirely too much maintenance in a large scale grow.
For someone who only needs say 6 plants, this method of hydroponic cultivation is an excellent way to grow. When an environment has been created to provide your plants with the optimum conditions required for fast, healthy growth,the one limiting factor left is how much oxygen can be provided to the roots of the plants. DWC growing will take care of this factor and then some! The roots will recieve huge amounts of oxygen for some of the fastest growth rates possible. DWC is one of the easiest and yet most effective forms of hydroponic cultivation.
Added on: Saturday, March 24, 2007 Viewed: 594 times
If you go with DWC, you have clones or sprouts with roots and the roots dangle into the oxygen enriched water with nutrients in it.
To improve a DWC system, you add an Exterior DRIP or an Interior Bubbleponics System. If you are pumping water to the rockwool cubes, from the beginning, you can start with seeds int he cubes and the babies will be fed faster, and grow faster cause you don;t have to wait for the roots to reach the water in the tank. There is a video at
Stealthhydro.com showing the Bubblponics System. The owners there have applied for a copyright to the word Bubbleponics.
Note:Lights?
Things to know about lighting
Color rating- Measured in Kelvin (K). The higher the number, the more bluish the light. 4000K-7000K is mostly on the blue side of the spectrum, while 3000K and under goes from a white spectrum, to a redder spectrum.
How much light is needed?
The minimum amount of light required by marijuana plants is around 3000 lumens per square foot. However, it's not 100% accurate, since although you may have a 10,000 lumen light, the amount of light that reaches the plant varies with the distance between the light and plants, and reflectivity of the grow box. The ideal amount is somewhere around 7000-10,000 lumens/sqft, and as long as the plants do not burn, as much light can be used as you want.
(*note, the sun produces about 10,000 lumens/sqft, on a sunny summer day).
Determining lumens for your grow area:
Determine the square footage of your area (example in a 4 foot by 4 foot area, there is 16 square feet)
If you have a 1000 watt High Pressure Sodium, that produces (approx.) 107,000 lumens.
Divide this by 16 (your square footage) 107,000 / 16 = 6687 lumens per square foot.
So just divide the total amount of Lumens, by the total amount of Sq ft, and thats your lumens per square foot.
How far away from my plants do the lights go?
The lights in your grow room should be as close as possible to the plants without burning them. There is no such thing as too much, unless there is sufficient heat to dry out and burn the leaves. A good rule is to put your hand under the light, if its too hot for your hand, chances are that the plants will be too, so move the light up until your hand feels more comfortable. For seedlings and clones, I keep them a little further away from the light, because they are very susceptible to burning and drying out, at these stages.
Efficiency is very important when choosing a type of light. The wattage is not the most important thing, as you can see below, different types of light produce different amounts of lumens per watt. A 300 watt incandescent will produce about 5100 lumens. While a 300 watt Metal Halide (just an example, they do not come in 300 watts), will produce 27,000 lumens. Obviously far more efficient for growing, while still using the same amount of electricity.
Approximate light production:
Incandescents: 17 lumens/watt
Mercury vapor: 45-50 lumens/watt
Fluorescents: 60-70 lumens/watt
Metal halide: 90 lumens/watt
High pressure sodium: 107 lumens/watt
Nutrients:
Q:so this is what I'm looking at. I established a few days ago that I have added too much nutrient too early to my plants and flushed the system with fresh water
A:Time they are 2 weeks old, they should mostly look all the same. They just struggle those first few days, but you'll see a big difference in a day or two. ANd when those roots hit the deep water, you 'll get a inch of growth daily.
Add 1/4 nutes now.
Q:would I add half of the micro bag, mix it up good, then add to tank, then do the same with half the bag of grow nuts as well?
A:Add the same amount of MICRO as you do the nutes.
The SH nutes are not 100% organic and can take 1/4 teaspoon peroxide per gallon of water. I would not use it IF you also use CITY clorinated water. If you have CITY clorinated water, then you should not have a problem to start with.
Q:added the 1/4 strength nutes like you recommended and the plants are looking good today. I was just wondering when I should add the next dose of nutrients and how much.
Since I overdid it last time I want to make sure not to do it again, what's your take? Also, I noticed that some of the leafs still have some yellow to them, do you think that's from the first nutrient burn or the 1/4 strength I recently added?
A:1/4 ONE DAY, IF YOU ON 24/7 LIGHTS, AND 1/4 THE NEXT, ADDING 1/4 A DAY UNTIL FULL STRENGHT,
OR
1/4 ONE DAY, SKIP TWO DAYS AND ADD THE OTHER 3/4 WILL WORK TOO.
The first two leaves that ever appeared wil yellow soon, early, and wilt. That is natural.
Extra Caution is better than NO Caution and small steps is better than giant steps. There is no harm in being extra careful and cautious. It is not like you are in a race or competition
Q:My question is about the nutrients. I know for the growth phase I need to use the GROW and MICRO nutes, but my question is do I continue to use both those types of nutes up until the time I'm ready to switch to BLOOM? And once, I switch to BLOOM, is that the only nutrient I use?
A: In both stages, you use both.
I experimetned with some liquid and organic nutes but I kept coming back to those nutes because they are pH balanced and easy to use, without measuring.
Page 1 Basic before you start your grow
Roseman's Tip of the Month
Can't make up your mind?
Have you been putting off making a decision to purchase your Stealth Hydroponics System?
I, Roseman, and my best friend partner have been outdoor gardeners off and on for decades. We have another friend with an indoor garden and I've always been super jealous, but too cautious to try it. We read Ed Rosenthal's "Growing Guide" so long ago, I can't remember when I first got it. Growing outdoors was for personal use, but it was limited to the seasons, weather, climate, and many other undesirable conditions.
This past year, I decided I wanted to move into the new age and grow indoors and grow the hydroponics "no soil" way. I started out by googling "growing indoors" and "growing hydroponics" and discovered a wide world of indoor growers, differing advise and a range hydroponics systems. After many months of Internet research and study I found the term "Stealth" and I told my partner and best friend that we should order one of the Stealth Hydroponics Systems for each of us. He told me to go ahead and order one, and that he would be smarter and thriftier then me by studying my system and then build one just like it.
On January 10th, my Dual Spectrum II Stealth Hydroponics System arrived. My best friend came right over and said "piece of cake, I can easily build one of those in a day!" He is a pretty smart dude, too.
I had already pre-soaked my seeds earlier and four days later introduced my six 2" seedlings to the rockwool cubes. My system was up and running! But my so called best friend and growing partner had become a big pest, bugging me for the first three days, coming over every day, wanting to look it over again and again to figure out how to build his own system.
Fourteen days later he had the tank, two pumps, some hoses or tubing, an air stone and he thought that he was on his way to building a hydroponics system. All he thought remained was figuring out how to cut those round holes. Or so he thought. In the same 14 days I had six of the most beautiful 6" tall, healthy bushiest plants that anyone has ever seen!
Now, 23 days later, I am almost half way through "growth" stage and my friend is still trying to figure out how to create the irrigation system and get it all assembled. He is driving me crazy constantly wanting to look inside my system. Finally he asked me if I think he can order "just the parts" from Stealth Hydro. Now he has realized he will also need the pre-measured and truly convenient Nutrient Grow Packets, the connectors, grow cups, rockwool, hydroton rocks and some not so readily available supplies that Walmart just does not carry. Not to mention the free grow guide CD.
I am telling you this story to make you pause and think. Are you really going to hunt down all those parts, guess as to how much water and proper nutrients are needed, how to assemble it all together and get it working, just to save around $60?
Really? And who are you going to ask for advise? Who can you go to with really dumb questions and get a rapid, expert, experienced reply - fast? What is that service worth? I am so glad that I found Stealth Hydro and that they are there to advise me. You will too! So what are you waiting for?
Until next month, Grow with Mother Nature and Grow with God, and GROW WITH STEALTH HYDRO! You'll be glad that you did! I sure am!
Peace.
Roseman
-here are some step by step start up instructions:
To start with, what kind of seeds are you useing? Try to either purchase some hybrid indica seed off of the internet, or try to find some from another grower. If you can not do that, maybe you can find a bag of sensimillia that had only a few seeds. With this system, To get a fast start, you can put the seed in wet paper towels while you are setting up the system. You'll want to put the wet paper towel on a plate, fold it over several times, covering the seed, make sure it is very wet,and then place a bowl upside down over the seed to make sure they are kept in the dark and stay wet. The only problem doing it that way is the sprouts are very delicate and you will need some tweezers to put them in the rockwool cubes.
YES, you can simply directly put the seed in the cubes to start with and that is faster and easier.
Let's start at the beginning. Try to use a secluded closet, with the wooden dowel or long rod overhead that you hang clothes on. You will need to get a thick rope or some thin chain, to hang your lights on. If you have the two lights, get two lenghts of chain, (or rope) and make a three foot long loop. Rinse out the tank with clean water. Try to find a small box, table or something like a large ice chest to put your tank on INSTEAD OF RIGHT ON THE FLOOR.. Be soaking your air stone in clean water, soak it over an hour or two.
Those DUAL Spectrum II lights are the very best. HID lighting is also the next best to dual spectrum, but they put out a lotta heat! Take your rocks and put them in a large strainer or colander, and rinse them, and rinse them again, to get the dust off. Ignore the instructions that came with them about using the pumped water to rinse them, that is too much trouble. Just rinse them first in a bowl.
Get your tank and lights in place, and then take one of the cups, and fill it 2 inches deep with the hydroton rocks. Then put your Rockwool cube in it, (take the plastic off the cube), and do not squeeze the cubes. Put one seed in the center of the cube, and put the cube in the cup, and put the rocks all around the cube. Do the 6 cups and put them in the lid, then put about a half inch of rocks on top of each cup, leaving the cube top uncovered. The top of the cube should be a little less than even with the top of the cup, or sitting an HALF inch lower than the top. Fill the tank with 6 gallons of the best water you can find, anything but city water. Use warm, room temp water. NOT HOT!(I use well water cause it is free) Now set the lid on the tank, and raise one side to see in , and make sure everything is connected good. Learn to use your hands and not your eyes to check the connections. The "hub" has to be connected to the underwater subversive pump. The end of each tube is inserted into the top holes of the cup. You should run one inch of tube into the cup, right up to the cube, touching it. You can start at the very beginning with the 6 cups in the lid, EVERYTHING CONNECTED, then load the cups.
I bought some large fishing weights for 82 cents and used fishing line to tie them to the air stone so it would stay in one place on the bottom and not float up. You must be careful about what you use to anchor the air stone down to the bottom.
Now get a one gallon jug, and mix half the GROW nutes in it, and half the micro nutes, in warm water and stir it and stir it. Drain it through a tea strainer to catch any undeserved little rocks or clumps. Now pour some of it into each cup or cube, just enough to wet the cubes. If you over soak them, they can possible collapse and you don't want that now. If they collapse later, that is OK. Now find 6 large Styrofoam cups, or 6 small Styrofoam saucers are better. Paper plates or disposable plastic plates will do. I use the saucers. I cut the bottoms out of the saucers, making a 4 inch disc or leaving them 4 inches in diameter. I cut a one inch hole in the center of each. I put one on each cup. They hold the moisture in the rocks and they block the light from the seed. This is not permanent, it is just for now. DO NOT TURN THE LIGHTS ON YET. Turn it all on, the pumps, leaving it in the dark, with the pump pumping the water to each cube, and the air stone bubbling and wait 4 to 6 days and you should see sprouts coming up. DO NOTHING DURING THOSE DAYS YOU ARE WAITING TO SEE THE SPROUTS. Have two or 3 extra seeds still in the wet paper towels, in case one of the seeds in the cups do not sprout. Then you can put that sprout in the cube. As soon as you see any sprout coming up, turn the lights on. With the Dual Spectrum lights, you can and should place them 2 or 3 inches above the plants. They do not put out any heat and the closer they are to the plant, the better. IF you place the lights 2 inches over the plants, you will have to raise them twice a day, due to the rapid growth.
Q:also should i be cutting the lower stems off? i do have one 42watt clf on the side of the widow, should i be concentrating on getting a big cola? not too sure what to do
A:Man, that is the biggest arguement on RIU. some call it lollipopping. some call it FIM (F**K, I missed) or Fimming. some call it topping and they all argue about it. Everytime someone starts a thread here on taht subject, there is a fight and argument and name calling and it gets bad.
Bro, I will never lie or make up shit or tell you advise on soemthing I do not have a lot of experience on. I promise.
I see advise here from people who never really did a grow.
My advise is DO NOT DO IT! DO NOT TRIM THOSE BIG FAN LEAVES, THEY ARE REQUIRED FOR THE PHOTOSYNTHISIS. If you do, you will regret it.
Some argue it lets more food go to the buds. BULLSHIT! They use the pigs at the trough argument, that if you remove a few feeding pigs,the remaining pigs get more food. BULLSHIT. The truth is the plant will go into shock and stop eating and growing for a few days from the SHOCK. The fan leaves have stored nutes in them vital for your plants growth.
When it does recover, it spends all its energy replacing the missing fan leaves. (also called shade leaves)
Some argue that if you remove the big fan leaves, it allows more light in. BULLSHIT. When it recovers from the shock, it spends all its energy filling in the space and in a week, it is replaced anyway.
Don't do it!
Do Not remove the big fan or shade leaves, you'll get many small buds from there and they are tasty buds too, just not as big.
Or try it with one plant and see if what I told you is so. you'll regret it, but you might need to experience it and live and learn.
One of the best things my dad taught me, is "son, learn from other people's mistakes, and not your own". I am 58 years old and I learned my lesson. Listen to someone older, wiser and with experience for advise.
At 5 or 6 weeks of FLOWERING, they will yellow and fall off anyway.
Excuse the typos.
Q:so i shouldnt cut the tops of the plants doing sog? and cut them if i let them grow big?
A:don;'t cut the lower leaves or branches under any circumstances, unless youa re doing a SOG. with a SOG, you're going for just the tops..and you get less.
Q:when I refresh the water, as in just add to what I have not when I change the res. Should I be adding nute solution, or just plain water. SH says just plain water, but my PPM meter reads 180 after adding around 2 gallons of plain water. Shouldn't I be keeping my PPM's up during the flowerring stage?
A
uring the first 3 weeks of Vegging, I had no noticable lose of water.At 4 weeks, I lost one or two quarts a day, and after 7 weeks, I lost a gallon a day. I calculated everything in sixths. So when I had to replace a gallon, I replaced it with a 1/6 mix of nutes in one Gallon of water and I am very satisfied it was right and good and what was best.
I reasoned if I got 6 gallons of water with six marbles in it, and one gal of water goes away, it must of taken one marble away too, so I am going to add back one gallon of water, i need to also add another marble. Made sense to me. ALSO, in my research, I learned that there is WASTE , (salts) in the water, and adding additional nutes does add more salts back in, so it is very necesary to also drain and replinish often, and although everyone says every ten days, I did it every 7 days on average.
Young, established seedlings or rooted cuttings are started at 500-600ppm. The TDS is increased to 800-900ppm during peak vegetative growth. During the transition from early to heavy flowering, TDS is further raised to 1000-1100ppm. It is then reduced to 400-500ppm during the final 2 weeks of flushing. The last 48 hours, use plain water only.
IF you use the premeasured nutes from SH, there is no need to worry about it. And in the example you used, AFTER 2 gallons are gone, then 1/3 of your nutes are gone too, lowering the ppm reading.
Q: have 5 out of 6 female lowryder 2's growing like mad in my Stealth Hydro and am worried they aregonna choke eachother out...wasn't expecting 5 out of 6 females, but a nice suprise...
A: Lots of ways to handle it. Really depends on the LIGHTS you have.
1st, this thread is to help any STEALH HYDRO BUBBLPONICS GROWER, so youa e NOT hi-jacking it. You are very welcomed adn encouraged to ask any question about the sytem here.
No one ever notices tht it is called a STARTER SYSTEM. Meaning you use it to start plants in. The MOST amazing thing about the system is how rapidly they do START, because of the 27/7 feed of Oxyegen enriched, nutrient enrich water tht flows to each cup, all day and night. It just seems to pull the roots out and that makes the plant grow faster and taller.
I did have 4 females in one tank, one time, and that was when I bought a 2nd tank. I moved two plants to the 2nd tank, and added some extra lights. When it happened again, 4 females in one tank, I went and bought a 5 gallon bucket at Walmart, with a lid, a cheap air pump, and 2 - 12 inch air stones and I moved one plant to the bucket. It was matuire enought NOT to need the feeder tubes and underwater pump. You might consider purchasing a 5 gallon bucket and moving a plant to it.
You could also read and study about bending them over, to grow horizontally, away from each other, IF YOU HAVE THE ROOM or SPACE. Just lift and tilt the cups outward and bend them over side-ways, you will have to tie them with something and try to get some lights on them from the sides, even if you hav eto resort to some cheap 42 wat bulbs. .
You've been blessed to get 5 females, that seldom happens, 5 out of 6! If it was me, I[d buy another tank or bucket and more lights and have a BIG harvest.
Q; im a few days away from starting a new crop, i only have my apt for 6 months so my roommate and i wanted to build a system that will produce the most crop, fast as possible. We decided to go with the bubbleponics system. everything is was going fine untill my roommate mentioned that "its awseome because we dont have to change the water." I was under the impression that you had to change the water and nutes every week or so. he stands by his word and says we dont have to change it. who is right? is it possible to not change the water and still come out with a good crop?
A:You start by putting perfect pH water, or as perfect as you can get it, (anywhere between 5.7 and 6.8 will do fine, 5.8 to 6.0 is best) with the perfect nutes (nutrients) that are pH balanced too. After a week or two, the roots hit the deep water and starting drinking the water. The plants eat or take from the water, taking nitogen, potassium, and other minerals for food, but they do not take the same amounts of each, leaving the water NOT PERFECT, with different amounts of remaining minerals. That means the water needs replacing.
ALSO, after two weeks, it is nearly impossible to avoid a piece of dead leaf getting in the tank, or a piece of dead root in the tank. That messes up the water, and the pH. So you ahve to replace the water with PERFECT water again.
ALSO, after about 4 weeks, they will be drinking nearly a gallon a day. And you have to REPLINISH the water with new water and new nutes, that is pH balanced.
ALSO, when you do drain the water, the roots are exposed to a blast of Oxygen, and as long as they are not dry for over 15 minutes, they love that blast of freash air. The more often you drain and replinish,the faster they grow. Knowing that, I drained every Saturday, EVERY SATURDAY, after the first two weeks. Ocassionally, on Wednesday, I drained it and put the water in a 5 gallon bucket, pH tested it, Adjsuted it,a dn put the same water right back in, just to give them a bath of air for a few mintues.
Q: plants are getting really bushy,but not much taller..is this nute lock??
A: :the best way to determine Nute Lock or Nutrional Lockout, is they will suddenly NOT drink the same amount of water they drank yesterday
Nutritional Lockout
Allow us to GIVE you a simplified definition of NUTRIONAL LOCKOUT.
Can you imagine sitting a plate before a child at dinner time, with his most favorite food, hot dogs, ketchup and french fries? But also on the plate is a major portion of steamed broccoli, which he is just not fond of and insists on nibbling on. Now imagine telling that child, "you can not eat the hot dog and fries if you do not eat all the broccoli too". NUTRITONAL LOCKOUT is when the child responds with "well then, I just won't eat!"
Stealth-Hydro's nutrients are both nutritionally and PH balanced. But after being in your tank for 5 or 6 days, and being eaten from for 5 or 6 days, they become imbalanced. Perhaps you are growing plants that ate all the nitrogen first and just snacked around the iron, magnesium and calcium, or visa versa. The results are discoloration in the leaves, yellowing or rust spots, or curling up of leaf tips. It also becomes apparent when your plants were consuming a gallon or half gallon of water every day, and then suddenly when you check the levels the next day, they did not drink any water at all. This is NUTRITIONAL LOCKOUT.
Q:I will be growing with feminized seed, so all 6 will be females (unless im unlucky) so with all six plants being females how tall should I veg. I was originally planning on growing 3 plants, but I though with the slim growth characteristics of white-berry I might be able to squeeze 6 with short veg. time.
A: in outdoors, in nature, plants VEG from around May, to late June or mid July. An average of ten weeks to mature to then start making flowers.
IN Hydro, Indoors, with 24/7 light, you cut that time in half, to 5 weeks.
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Q: once a grower has planted his seeds that have just cracked and show thier tap root is it safe to cover them slightly and turn on the light 24/7
A: Seeds stay in DARK until they sprout and show a root and sprout. Then , like the frst day they are coming out of the ground in nature outdoors, they get full light. ont he first day, I have 3 or 4 CFLS about 6 inches high, and I lower them one inch a day, until 4 or 5 days later, they are one to two inches away.
Q: anyone have any experience with molasses?
A: Molassas is used in SOIL growing, but not in Hydro. I've seen many grower here mess up their entire system, putting it in their tanks
Q:im seeing little fungis gnats on my roots...is there any home remedy you can tell me..i looked everywhere on this but everyone seems to only have this prob. when they deal with soil or if its a dwc setup then theres no responses tha can really help me..please if u have anything on this it would be appreciated..cause i hear those lil bastards can be dangerous..i was thinking of getting this but wasnt sure how to use it in bubbler...
A:I would not use that if you are not certain what the consequesnces will be.
I've never even seen or heard of fungis gants on the roots. do you mean they have gnats flying around in the resouvoir tank? That is strange to me!
I've seen dozens of pics here where someone had wierd water; green, brown, white, slimey, chalky, powdery, and when we dug deep for an explanation, they had all done something wierd and not done before, that caused it. They added something wierd, they let light in the tank, they had a glass aquarium, they let the water sit for a day before using it, something wierd. If you got gnats in the water, how did that happen?
My tank stays sealed except for feeding and draining time.
Keeping Size in Perspective
This system was not designed to row six 6-foot tall Christmas Trees. (Although we have grown 3 plants, 3, 4 and 5 feet tall in one tank.) We have heard a few growers tell us "I just realized that the 6 plants are going to get very crowded after they get 3 or 4 feet tall". This system was not designed for 6 giant plants. There is a reason that the tank is 21 and a half inches long. When this system was originally designed, many factors went into deciding what size tank and pumps to use. The main factors were economy, simplicity, stealthness, and making sure the tank would fit into the end of a small closet, out of the way and out of sight. We've heard of a few growers that try to change to a much larger tank, and realize how much more work and trouble is involved in using a larger tank and moving larger quantities of water. Draining and replenishing the water can be a major task in a much larger tank. Not only are more larger and expensive air and water pumps needed for a larger tank, but larger pumps make more noise. Draining and cleaning a larger tank is a ton of work and trouble too. If you want to go with a bigger system, then connect two tanks together. And if you want to grow large plants, then start them in the Bubbleponics System, then transfer them into the Bucketeer Large Bucket DWC system. Or do like most growers do and just grow 2 or 3 large plants in one tank by selecting and keeping the more desirable three plants and disposing of the other three.
Growing the Stealth Hydro Way
The StealthHydro Bubbleponics System was designed to be "stealth" and to be very efficient, quiet, small, simple, easy to use, and inexpensive. The designer of this system had the beginner or novice in mind, because it is so simple and easy to use. But as we have continued to grow with the system and grow in experience, we've come to know you can not improve on it. The system is designed to grow six small plants very fast and easy, under the umbrella of two Dual Spectrum lights, in a two square foot space.
Dirty Water?
We hear from a few growers having trouble with the water becoming cloudy or brown. Upon asking questions, we learn they did not rinse the hydroton rocks as completely as they should have. You should put the hydroton rocks in a large mixing bowl full of water, and pour them through a colander five or six times until the water pours out crystal clear and clean of hydroton dust. You should also pour water over and through the rocks several times in the colander. IF you see WHITE looking grains in the water, it is probably just water minerals and will not do any harm.
Algae Prevention
We also hear from a few growers allowing algae to grow in their tank and becoming a problem. This can happen from several mistakes but can easily be remedied. (see our 8 Step Remedy) You can not allow a dead root or fallen leaf to stay in the tank and decay. You can not allow the lights to shine into the water through the rocks. If the grow cup is full of rocks, the lights can not penetrate through the cups. And most important, you have to start with clean, pure water. You can not use rain water, or water from a stream, river or lake. You should exchange the water after the first ten days, and then every 10 to 14 days as you grow. As the plants get over 12 inches tall, exchanging the water every 7 days is more efficient. Your water should smell like clean green alfalfa sprouts. With added GROW nutrients, it has a slightly green tint. If you detect an unpleasant odor, you have waited too long to drain and exchange the water. When you do replenish the water and nutrients, you should look for and remove any dead roots that were accidentally torn from the plant. You can use chlorinated city tap water. Some growers even recommend it for it's purity. The chlorine dissipates fast and is never a problem. You can use RH filtered water, or store bought distilled or spring water. If you use well water or detect algae growing in your tank, you can add 1/6 teaspoon of Hydrogen Peroxide per gallon of water to your tank as a cure or preventative. Never use more than a level teaspoon per tank of 6 gallons of water.
We have seen books that advised allowing chlorinated water to first sit for 24 hours. Not only is this not necessary, this is bad advise, and encourages algae to start growing in your water. We have done tests and the chlorine dissipate within minutes from the tap. Do not use water that sat out and uncovered or was stored.
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pH Problems
If you have a PH problem, you simply did something wrong. You should make sure that the PH of the water going into the tank is very close to 6.0. Anything between 5.8 and 6.8 is OK, but 5.8 to 6.0 works best, IF you use the SH pH balanced nutes. When you first set up your tank, you should do a PH test on your water before adding the water to the tank, using the enclosed PH test strips. Then adjust the water with PH UP or PH DOWN before it goes into the tank. That way, the PH perfect nutrients will work best. It can be dangerous to adjust the PH in the tank, especially if you overly adjust it. It is also dangerous to adjust it frequently. A very slight adjustment is OK, but if you change it drastically in the tank by using a large amount of PH UP or PH DOWN, you are taking a big risk of seriously harming your plants. If you do a test on your tank's water and it is extremely out of range from 5.8 to 6.8, then it is best to drain it and replenish it with PH corrected water and nutrients. (see the 8 Step Remedy) Let us repeat, you should add the nutrients to PH perfect water to start with. If you insist on adjusting it in the tank slightly, then use no more than 1/2 level teaspoon of PH UP or PH DOWN to the tank, and no more frequently than 4 hours apart. Plants do not adjust well to rapid changes in PH levels. The results can be Nutritional Lockout. Remember, if you make a mistake then you can easily and rapidly correct it, by using the 8 Step Remedy.
Mixing the Nutrients
We have had growers tell us "when I throw in a packet of nutrients into my tank, they just settle to the bottom and don't dissolve". That is not the proper way to introduce the nutrients and feed your plants. These nutrients are natural elements and not made to perfectly dissolve in water. For example, seashells are not ever going to completely dissolve in water, no matter how much they are pulverized, but are an excellent source of calcium. You should add the packets to a quart jar half full of warm water and stir them rapidly, mixing them as well as possible in the water. Then pour them through a tea strainer or some kind of mesh screen or filter, to filter out the small particles that did not dissolve. Then add the nutrient water mix to the tank.
Always remember when you first start and set up your system, you should start with 1/4 of a packet of GROW nutes, if you are starting with seeds, sprouts or baby seedlings. If you started with clones or baby plants, then start with half a packet of Grow nutes. Your plants should be about 3 inches tall, before you use the nutrients full strength. Then stand back and watch for a growth explosion!
Nutrient and Water Flow
We hear concerns from new growers that the water is not flowing rapidly or strongly from the ends of the tubes into the rockwool cubes. A strong flow is not necessary at all. A slight trickle (bubbling) is all that is needed to keep the rockwool cube moist and the baby roots fed until they reach into the deep water. You do need to check for crimps and folds in the water tubes, especially when you first set up your system.
Keeping It Simple
The biggest mistake that we have seen anyone make starts with "I wonder what will happen if I add miracle nutrients, or cat urine, or molasses" or a dozen other crazy things that we have heard growers try. If you do not know what will happen, don't try it unless you are prepared to start all over because you killed your plants. Experimentation is great, but caution and moderation are the keys to success.
Oxygen Is the Most Important Aspect of Bubbleponics
The best tip we can offer from experience is the importance of air or oxygen in the water. It is not required or necessary for good health of plants, but the addition of a 2nd air stone can make a difference in the speed of growth. You can use a plastic T-coupler so you can add a second stone to the one air pump. You can force growth spurts by draining the tank, waiting five or ten minutes to allow the roots to "air out" and then replenishing the water, even if you add back the same water and nutrient mix that you just drained out. Try it!
There are several ways to drain your tank by the way. One is by adding the drain plug or faucet. Or you can obtain a plastic hose like you can get at the aquarium store to drain your aquarium, and siphon the water out. Another way is to attach the hose to the submersible pump, using your fist as a coupling, and simply allow the pump to pump it out into a bucket.
Diagnosis and Recuperation Guide
We'll discuss some signs of illness first, then offer remedies for Recuperation and Recovery.
Both new leaves and mature leaves are the best indicators to determine how healthy your plants are. Any problem or illness will first manifest itself in the appearance of your leaves. These problems almost always originate from the plant's environment, PH imbalance or over-feeding and under feeding. These problems always result in what is called "nutritional lock-out".
Nutritional Lockout
Allow us to GIVE you a simplified definition of NUTRIONAL LOCKOUT.
Can you imagine sitting a plate before a child at dinner time, with his most favorite food, hot dogs, ketchup and french fries? But also on the plate is a major portion of steamed broccoli, which he is just not fond of and insists on nibbling on. Now imagine telling that child, "you can not eat the hot dog and fries if you do not eat all the broccoli too". NUTRITONAL LOCKOUT is when the child responds with "well then, I just won't eat!"
Stealth-Hydro's nutrients are both nutritionally and PH balanced. But after being in your tank for 5 or 6 days, and being eaten from for 5 or 6 days, they become imbalanced. Perhaps you are growing plants that ate all the nitrogen first and just snacked around the iron, magnesium and calcium, or visa versa. The results are discoloration in the leaves, yellowing or rust spots, or curling up of leaf tips. It also becomes apparent when your plants were consuming a gallon or half gallon of water every day, and then suddenly when you check the levels the next day, they did not drink any water at all. This is NUTRITIONAL LOCKOUT.
Instead of giving lengthy descriptions of indications of overfeeding, underfeeding, ph imbalance, environmental problems and Nutritional Lockout here, it is easier to just give the remedy. Here we will refer to this remedy as THE RECUPERATION AND RECOVERY REMEDY.
THE 8 STEP RECUPERATION AND RECOVERY REMEDY
1. Check the roots. If they are discolored, reddish or brown, or present an unpleasant odor, you have a problem. If they are weak, soft or mushy, you have a problem. Also while checking the roots, observe the temperature of the water. If it is warmer than "luke warm" you have a problem. This problem is probably what is referred to as "root rot" or a disease known as PYTHIUM. Remove the dead brown roots by trimming them away with sharp scissors. Do not leave them in the tank.
2.Check the humidity and temperature of the grow area below the lights in the "growing zone" when the lights are on. A temperature of above 82 degrees or below 67 degrees will slow growth, but it is not a serious problem that will kill your plants. Temperatures below 62 degrees or above 90 degrees will stop growth. An extremely high temperature in the upper 90s or below 58 degrees can slowly result in death of your plants. The most efficient temps for growth are between 72 to 80 degrees. Any Humidity between 40 and 60 percent is acceptable and desirable.
3.Check the "lights off, nighttime" temperature. Most desirable is ten to 15 degrees cooler than the daytime "lights on" temperature, averaging 66 to 70 degrees.
4.Check the distance between the tips of the plant and the tip of the light bulb. If you observe yellowing or leaf curling tips, then move the lights one inch further away. A good rule of thumb if you use HID lights, is hold the soft palm of your hand at the leaf tip and see if the bulb is too warm to your hand. If you use Stealth Hydro's compact fluorescent bulbs, we recommend a distance of three or four inches for the 65 and 85 watt bulbs and 4 inches to five inches for the 105 watt bulbs. More mature plants can handle the bulbs slightly closer.
5.Check the position of your fans. Air movement is very necessary for the health of your plants, but too strong of a fan can cause wind burn. Direct your fan toward the tops of the plants and toward the lights. Never position the fan blowing strongly downward on the leaves.
6.Add 1/4 teaspoon of hydrogen peroxide to a quart of water and add it to the tank of six gallons already in the tank. Wait ten minutes and then turn the water and nutrition solution pump off to prepare to drain the tank. Poor at least a cup of clean water through each grow cup, onto each rockwool cube and through the hydroton rocks.
7.Drain or pump the tank empty as possible without damaging the pump by running it dry. Add two gallons of additional clean water with 1/4 teaspoon of hydrogen peroxide again and then drain it away too. Again, empty the tank as empty as possible without burning up your pump.
8. Add fresh PH balanced water and nutritional packets as prescribed. PH test it again.
The above 8 steps should repair and remedy any health problems that your plants experienced within the next two days. Now is the time to try and determine what caused the problem to start with, by investigating and researching typical hydroponics problems and illnesses. Here are a few DIAGNOSIS TIPS.
Typical Hydroponics Problems and Illnesses
Underfeeding and Weak Nutrition
The entire plant, both upper and lower leaves, will show lime or light green in color.
The plant will not eat, drink or show growth.
It is time to follow the 8 Step Remedy.
Overfeeding, Use of Too Strong Nutrients
The leaves will curl downward. They grow very dark dull flat green and then the tips show signs of burn.
It is time to follow the 8 Step Remedy.
Nutritional Lockout
You know that you have made recent PH adjustments. You might know you may have used too much of the PH Adjustment Solution. You may have failed to test the PH often enough. You notice the plants did not eat or drink because they did not consume the same amount of water they used yesterday. You see rust spots. The large lower leaves are prematurely dying and you are not in the BLOOMING or FLOWERING stage.
It is time to follow the 8 Step Remedy.
Wind Burn
You had the fan blowing downward toward the upper side of the leaves, instead of blowing up through the node spaces or toward the lights. You observe the leaves becoming dry or even crispy, perhaps shriveling, and the tips curling upward. The leaves do not appear glossy, moist and vibrant.
It is time to follow the 8 Step Remedy.
Water, Nutrition Solution or Roots Are Discolored Brown Or Have an Unpleasant Odor
You notice your water is becoming brownish in color, or smells distasteful. Your solution does not smell pleasant and appetizing like fresh lettuce. Your roots are not the same shade of white that they once were a week ago.
It is time to follow the 8 Step Remedy.
Q:Can someone explain the difference between the Bubbleponic kit and the Deep Water Culture kit? Which is better? And why. Sorry about stupid questions, but I've read most of this entire website and never really got an answer to this one
A:What is a bubbler/DWC?
DWC (Deep Water Culture) units are commonly referred to as "bubblers" and are used for a method of growing plants hydroponically in a bucket of nutrients with the plant suspended over the nutrients and the roots growing down into the nutrients which are super oxygen saturated by pumping large volumes into the nutrient solution with the aid of an aquaurium stlye pump with an airstone attached to the airline.
Plants grown in this method grow at superfast rates due to the fact that they are being fed large amounts of oxygen. This is the same reason that the roots can sit in the nutrient solution without drowning. This method of growing is perfect for a hobby grower or one who wishes to grow for personal use. Large scale commercial growers do not generally find this method appropriate for the reason that each plant is housed in its own reservoir, and would simply be entirely too much maintenance in a large scale grow.
For someone who only needs say 6 plants, this method of hydroponic cultivation is an excellent way to grow. When an environment has been created to provide your plants with the optimum conditions required for fast, healthy growth,the one limiting factor left is how much oxygen can be provided to the roots of the plants. DWC growing will take care of this factor and then some! The roots will recieve huge amounts of oxygen for some of the fastest growth rates possible. DWC is one of the easiest and yet most effective forms of hydroponic cultivation.
Added on: Saturday, March 24, 2007 Viewed: 594 times
If you go with DWC, you have clones or sprouts with roots and the roots dangle into the oxygen enriched water with nutrients in it.
To improve a DWC system, you add an Exterior DRIP or an Interior Bubbleponics System. If you are pumping water to the rockwool cubes, from the beginning, you can start with seeds int he cubes and the babies will be fed faster, and grow faster cause you don;t have to wait for the roots to reach the water in the tank. There is a video at
Stealthhydro.com showing the Bubblponics System. The owners there have applied for a copyright to the word Bubbleponics.
Note:Lights?
Things to know about lighting
Color rating- Measured in Kelvin (K). The higher the number, the more bluish the light. 4000K-7000K is mostly on the blue side of the spectrum, while 3000K and under goes from a white spectrum, to a redder spectrum.
How much light is needed?
The minimum amount of light required by marijuana plants is around 3000 lumens per square foot. However, it's not 100% accurate, since although you may have a 10,000 lumen light, the amount of light that reaches the plant varies with the distance between the light and plants, and reflectivity of the grow box. The ideal amount is somewhere around 7000-10,000 lumens/sqft, and as long as the plants do not burn, as much light can be used as you want.
(*note, the sun produces about 10,000 lumens/sqft, on a sunny summer day).
Determining lumens for your grow area:
Determine the square footage of your area (example in a 4 foot by 4 foot area, there is 16 square feet)
If you have a 1000 watt High Pressure Sodium, that produces (approx.) 107,000 lumens.
Divide this by 16 (your square footage) 107,000 / 16 = 6687 lumens per square foot.
So just divide the total amount of Lumens, by the total amount of Sq ft, and thats your lumens per square foot.
How far away from my plants do the lights go?
The lights in your grow room should be as close as possible to the plants without burning them. There is no such thing as too much, unless there is sufficient heat to dry out and burn the leaves. A good rule is to put your hand under the light, if its too hot for your hand, chances are that the plants will be too, so move the light up until your hand feels more comfortable. For seedlings and clones, I keep them a little further away from the light, because they are very susceptible to burning and drying out, at these stages.
Efficiency is very important when choosing a type of light. The wattage is not the most important thing, as you can see below, different types of light produce different amounts of lumens per watt. A 300 watt incandescent will produce about 5100 lumens. While a 300 watt Metal Halide (just an example, they do not come in 300 watts), will produce 27,000 lumens. Obviously far more efficient for growing, while still using the same amount of electricity.
Approximate light production:
Incandescents: 17 lumens/watt
Mercury vapor: 45-50 lumens/watt
Fluorescents: 60-70 lumens/watt
Metal halide: 90 lumens/watt
High pressure sodium: 107 lumens/watt
Nutrients:
Q:so this is what I'm looking at. I established a few days ago that I have added too much nutrient too early to my plants and flushed the system with fresh water
A:Time they are 2 weeks old, they should mostly look all the same. They just struggle those first few days, but you'll see a big difference in a day or two. ANd when those roots hit the deep water, you 'll get a inch of growth daily.
Add 1/4 nutes now.
Q:would I add half of the micro bag, mix it up good, then add to tank, then do the same with half the bag of grow nuts as well?
A:Add the same amount of MICRO as you do the nutes.
The SH nutes are not 100% organic and can take 1/4 teaspoon peroxide per gallon of water. I would not use it IF you also use CITY clorinated water. If you have CITY clorinated water, then you should not have a problem to start with.
Q:added the 1/4 strength nutes like you recommended and the plants are looking good today. I was just wondering when I should add the next dose of nutrients and how much.
Since I overdid it last time I want to make sure not to do it again, what's your take? Also, I noticed that some of the leafs still have some yellow to them, do you think that's from the first nutrient burn or the 1/4 strength I recently added?
A:1/4 ONE DAY, IF YOU ON 24/7 LIGHTS, AND 1/4 THE NEXT, ADDING 1/4 A DAY UNTIL FULL STRENGHT,
OR
1/4 ONE DAY, SKIP TWO DAYS AND ADD THE OTHER 3/4 WILL WORK TOO.
The first two leaves that ever appeared wil yellow soon, early, and wilt. That is natural.
Extra Caution is better than NO Caution and small steps is better than giant steps. There is no harm in being extra careful and cautious. It is not like you are in a race or competition
Q:My question is about the nutrients. I know for the growth phase I need to use the GROW and MICRO nutes, but my question is do I continue to use both those types of nutes up until the time I'm ready to switch to BLOOM? And once, I switch to BLOOM, is that the only nutrient I use?
A: In both stages, you use both.
I experimetned with some liquid and organic nutes but I kept coming back to those nutes because they are pH balanced and easy to use, without measuring.
